


Transfer

by kenzz_95



Series: Trektober 2020 [7]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: And Jim served as Pike's first officer post ST2009, Bones started the academy one year later, M/M, No Sex, Somewhat anonymous hookup, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:53:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26844700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzz_95/pseuds/kenzz_95
Summary: Jim Kirk, first officer on the USS Enterprise, has been hooking up with the same guy, who he's nicknamed Bones, every time they stop at starbase 12 for years now. Just as he realized he was starting to catch feelings, despite his best intentions, he's promoted to captain and finds a familiar face in his new CMO.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Series: Trektober 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948633
Comments: 8
Kudos: 109
Collections: Trektober 2020





	Transfer

**Author's Note:**

> Trektober day 7: Anonymous hookup
> 
> This one's an M due to the subject matter more than the actual content, just FYI. I have long maintained that there should be a T+ rating, and this would be that if that existed. Just don't want to get anyone's hopes up or down or whichever way about a potential sex scene.

Jim had realized, about six months post graduation, that sleeping with people on the same ship as him led to a lot more problems than it was worth. And that sleeping with  _ anyone _ who came onto the Enterprise in the line of duty was probably just not very professional, given his position as Pike’s first officer. Pike had argued that this was actually about 5 months and 2 weeks longer than it  _ should _ have taken Jim to realize this, given his supposed genius, but still. The realization had come eventually. Jim considered himself lucky, really, to land a first officer position immediately following graduation. Especially on the damn flagship, and under Pike. Jim had had a taste of command on this very ship during the incident with Nero, a ship he had really only been on because the admiralty had been loath to leave a student like Jim behind when they were warping into a crisis, academic suspension notwithstanding. And then after Pike had healed up he had offered Jim the first officer position, mainly because Jim had command aspirations that Spock, who was originally going to be the first officer, just didn’t have. He was lucky, real damn lucky, and he was aware of that, he appreciated that, and he wasn’t going to ruin his shot at the captain’s chair upon Pike’s retirement because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. And so Jim learned to content himself with hookups on shore leave, or while off duty at a starbase, and that became good enough.

Only a short few months after Jim’s realization that if he didn’t stop trying to use sex as therapy then he was going to ruin his career, Jim met him. Jim hadn’t thought too much about him at first. They met at a bar on starbase 12, they had spent one hell of a night together, and then they had both gone their separate ways come morning. But then, a little less than a year later, Jim had been at that same bar on that same starbase, and he was there again and had made some comment about how the strange alien booze he had ordered was going to make his bones hurt in the morning, and next thing he knew he was in the other man’s quarters again for yet another insanely good night. 

It became something of a thing for them, Jim and that gruff brunette man who always ordered bourbon, who he ended up nicknaming “Bones” after their second encounter. Whenever Jim was on starbase 12, which happened with decent regularity, he would head to that bar, order a drink, and spend all night with the man who could fuck him so good that the memories alone were enough to tide him over in the long, lonely months on the Enterprise. Jim didn’t know much about the Bones. They had never exchanged names, and they never talked about work. The last thing Jim wanted to do was get emotionally attached to someone he saw once or twice a year. It was reasonable, Jim figured, to assume that the other man worked on starbase 12, seeing as how he was  _ always _ there, but that’s all Jim knew. He knew other things, though. Like how Bones was good with his mouth, and even better with his hands. He was southern, with a silky smooth accent that did all sorts of things to Jim and only seemed to get stronger as their nights wore on. And he was smart, witty, unbelievably opinionated, and insanely, absurdly easy to talk to. Because, oh yeah, they didn’t just fuck. Between sessions of what was the best sex Jim had ever had in his life, probably, they talked and debated and laughed and always,  _ always _ kept it just on the edge of anonymous. It was odd, Jim thought, because he didn’t know this man’s name or what he was constantly doing on starbase 12, but he did know just about every opinion he had. They had, after all, been doing this with some regularity for six years. The last time on starbase 12, though, had nearly proven to be Jim’s undoing. 

He had broken the hell out of his hip only a week prior, on an away mission gone all sorts of wrong, and Dr. Boyce, their CMO, had told him frankly that he was under no circumstances to have any kind of sex while it was still healing. Boyce was Pike’s husband, and Pike was almost like Jim’s dad, so it was a bit of an embarrassing discussion, but still. And then there had been the rumors that Pike was about to retire, which weren’t corroborated by the man himself but it put Jim in one hell of a mood. When Jim had run into his not-quite-a-stranger at the bar on starbase 12, he had told Bones matter-of-factly that he didn’t want to have sex, and couldn’t even if he did want to. But Bones had done something odd, and had invited Jim back to his quarters anyways and Jim had  _ gone _ and they had stayed up all night watching bad holo films and talking and laughing and it had hurt in the morning when Jim had to leave which was bullshit because that had been the entire reason for the anonymity in the first place. 

Jim was distracted from the weird tinge of sadness pretty quickly, though, because as soon as he arrived back on the Enterprise he was called into Pike’s office and told that Pike and Boyce would be taking promotions earth-side, effective two months from then, and that Pike was giving the Enterprise to Jim. It was everything Jim had ever wanted, and soon everything else was forgotten as he prepared to take command of the ship he had learned to call home over the past 6 years. 

The transition was made easier by the fact that the whole senior crew, aside from Pike and Boyce, were staying on. They were going to pick up some transfers upon their return to earth, like they always did, but the only addition to the senior crew would be the new CMO, who had been hand picked by Boyce himself. Jim had been the first officer for 6 years, and had a great relationship with the Enterprise crew. He was going to promote Spock to first officer, despite the Vulcan’s lack of desire to be captain someday. The easy transition from the number three in the chain of command up to the number two was a factor, as was the fact that Spock balanced Jim’s more impulsive side really well. He was glad, when he thought about it, that he had this time to learn from Pike in the field. He was certain he was going to be a better captain now than if they had upheld his field promotion immediately following his graduation from the Academy. He knew he would have grown into the role regardless, but getting through the last of his shithead kid phase as first officer had been slightly less pressure. He was more confident now than he ever would have been then. He was ready for this.

Most of the Enterprise crew had two weeks of leave while on Earth, but Jim would be taking the time following his promotion to get some things done that needed to happen before the Enterprise launched for a five year mission with her new captain. One of those things was meeting his new officers. A lot of crew matters had fallen onto Jim’s lap as first officer, so dealing with new crew members was something he was already used to. He had a bit of a unique strategy when meeting new crew members for the first time, but it was one he believed in. First impressions were important, and they were often clouded by judgments, assumptions, and even unconscious prejudices based on things found in peoples’ files. So Jim had developed an algorithm to hide some of the information in new crew members’ files that he considered extraneous for a first meeting. Stuff like species, primary language spoken, sex and gender, photographs, birth places, all that. Information like that was important to the context of a person, of course, but Jim preferred to go into first meetings with only the information that was relevant to an officer on a professional level, and go over the rest later. He had been doing it like that for several years, and had yet to have any problems with it.

Jim read through his new crew members’ files as he sat alone at an all hours cafe one evening, decaf coffee in hand. He whistled low when he got to his new CMO’s file. Damn, Boyce had picked a good one. His new CMO was to be one Leonard McCoy, MD, PHD. Just the education section of the man’s record was impressive. He had a double major in undergrad in both microbiology and biochemistry, followed by an MD, a PHD in psychology, a surgical residency, and a stint at the Academy where he got his xenomedicine certificate, graduating only one year after Jim himself did. He wondered if they had ever run into each other on campus. There was a litany of publications and commendations listed, but for some reason this guy had done his last term of the Academy at a starbase where he then stayed for the past five years, despite being, on paper at least, probably the most qualified CMO in the fleet. Jim snorted to himself as he noticed the starbase Dr. McCoy had been stationed at for the past five and a half years. Starbase 12. Typical. He wondered if the man knew Bones. That was a question that would have to go unanswered, though. What was he supposed to do, go into his first meeting with his new CMO and say “hey, do you know a tall brunette southern man who works on this major station with hundreds of staff? No, I don’t know his name or his job, but he has a fantastic dick.” No, obviously he was not going to say that. And if Jim was half as good at the whole “anonymous means no strings, no commitments, no feelings” thing he had decided on then he probably wouldn’t be thinking about Bones at all outside of the personal little fantasies where he replayed their past encounters while alone in his quarters at night. Jim sighed and set his PADD down. Maybe that was enough work for the night.

Jim’s plan to cut all the extraneous details on crew records before he met a new officer had finally backfired. They were only a few days before the Enterprise would launch again, and he was finally going to meet his new CMO, in a conference room at Starfleet HQ because Jim never bothered to keep an office on earth. He had been sipping a coffee and flipping a PADD stylus between his fingers when the door hissed open and in walked…

“Bones?” Jim asked incredulously, after taking a moment to observe the dark haired man in science blues with lieutenant commander stripes that had just walked through the door. There was a somewhat wary expression behind those hazel eyes and Jim had never seen Bones in anything approaching a uniform before - in fact, most of the time they spent together was spent naked - but he would recognize Bones anywhere.

“Dr. McCoy,” Bones said, holding his hand out for a handshake, “Sir.”

Shit. His new CMO was Bones. This was...unexpected. Jim was a little thrown, so he missed a few beats before he shook Bones’ - Dr. McCoy’s - hand. Bones knew, right? He had to recognize Jim, right? That must be what was behind that slightly hesitant look in his eyes.

“Jim Kirk.” Jim finally shook Bones’ hand. “This is...unexpected.”

“Did you really not read my file?” Bones asked, judgment laced in his voice, his accent much less prominent than Jim remembered. Maybe his tongue was loosened by sex, alcohol, and late nights. 

“Of course I read your damn file,” Jim rolled his eyes, “But I like to black out all the extraneous details so I can go into these things with an open mind. I didn’t know.”

Bones just kept looking at him, not saying anything, and then Jim realized something,

“But  _ you _ knew. You did this on purpose.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, drama queen,” Bones said gruffly, “I ain’t about to make a massive career change just for some good dick. Dr. Boyce was my mentor in the Academy, how the hell was I supposed to know when he let me know a position as CMO on the Enterprise under the soon to be promoted Captain Kirk would mean you? You may recall that we never discussed our jobs or gave each other names.”

“Don’t try to tell me you never had any idea I was stationed on the Enterprise,” Jim scoffed, for some reason going with defensive to cover up...however he was feeling about this development.

“‘Course I did. I knew I’d probably be on the same ship as you, but I didn’t even think about that until after sent in an application. It’s a CMO position on the damn flagship, those don’t come around every day, ya know? I wasn’t gonna let occasionally running into my goddamn...whatever we were, deter me from that. Didn’t realize Captain Kirk was  _ you _ until a couple days ago.”

They both just looked at each for a few tense moments, then Bones crossed his arms over his chest and glared in Jim’s direction,   


“If you try to transfer me, I’ll fight it. I deserve this position, and you’re just gonna have to get used to me serving under you.”

“I’ve never had a problem with you being under me in the past,” Jim smirked. He knew he was supposed to be being professional, but that one had been wide open.

“I could have you reported for that,” Bones narrowed his eyes at him and he was right, Jim knew he was right, but dammit he had no idea how to handle this situation. He figured maybe he should start there.

“I’m sorry. This is just...a lot to wrap my head around. You being here, you being my goddamn CMO.”

“What’s there to wrap your head around?” Bones asked, a challenge in his voice, “It was good sex, hell it was great sex, but that’s all it was. That was your idea, right? No names, no strings, no commitments, no feelings?”

That stung a little, mostly because even though they had stuck with the no names one, Jim had royally fucked up on the last three and he was starting to realize that. But he wasn’t backing down without a fight.

“Last time I saw you I said I didn’t want to fuck you and then you invited me back to your quarters anyways where, you may remember, neither of us got off all night.”

“Your point being?” Bones was raising one single eyebrow. Jim had always thought that was hot.

“My point being that that doesn’t exactly fit with ‘just good sex’. Oh, I’m sorry, you said great. Great sex.”

“Don’t try to put this all on me. You didn’t have to come.”

Bones had his arms across his chest with his eyes narrowed and Jim realized that he was nearly mirroring the other man’s position. He uncrossed his arms, just for something to do. 

“What the fuck are we even arguing about?” Jim asked, because he sort of felt like someone had yanked the ground out from under him but he barely knew why, much less how the resulting conversation had gotten to this point.

Bones opened his mouth, shut it again, seemed to think for a moment, and then finally sighed,

“Hell if I know. But I’m not transferring out.”

“Never said you had to. I’d be stupid to get rid of such a highly qualified CMO.”

“Is that what this is?”

“Yes?” Jim asked, not really even sure himself. Or, well, he was sure, but he didn’t want to say it and didn’t even know how to express it if he did.

“Okay, then I don’t think we should fuck anymore. We’re going to be working closely together every damn day for the duration of a five year mission, at least, that’s the very definition of ‘strings’,” Bones pointed out, that challenging tone still in his voice.

“Maybe I want there to be strings,” Jim said before even realizing he was saying it. He immediately wanted to shove the words back into his mouth, not because they weren’t true but because that was a hell of a lot of vulnerability and he still wasn’t great at that.

“You said…”   


“It’s been five and a half years. Maybe I’ve changed my mind.”

“I’m hearin’ a lot of maybes here, not a lot of definitives.”

“And I’m not hearing you say shit,” Jim said, “What do  _ you _ want?”

“I think it should’ve been clear what I want the moment you told me you didn’t want to have sex and I invited you back to my quarters anyways,” Bones said, even though that wasn’t really an answer. “Shoulda been clear earlier, probably.”

“Well, I’ve been told I’m a dumbass so maybe you should spell it out for me.”   


“I’ve seen your records, your aptitude scores, I heard about you at the Academy, I think it’s pretty damn clear you’re not a dumbass.”

“Being smart does not preclude me from being a dumbass. Or so I’ve been told.”   


“So it should’ve been goddamn clear when I didn’t kick you out of my bed the moment we both came that maybe this was more than just a casual fuck for me,” Bones snapped.

“So what do you  _ want _ ? Do you want to be my friend? Friends with benefits? My boyfriend? What?”

“Why don’t you stop asking me what I want and tell me what you want, huh?”

Jim did not want to do that, because of his whole thing where he didn’t like vulnerability. But he was 31 years old, a newly minted starship captain, and he was going to stop being such a massive baby about this whole thing. He was either going to tell Bones that he hoped they could be friends, or he was going to tell him what he was beginning to realize was the truth. And despite his usual instincts, he was seriously considering doing the latter.

“I like spending time with you, Bones,” Jim finally said, after some internal deliberation as to if he was  _ really _ going to do this. “The past few years I started looking forward to seeing you whenever we stopped at starbase 12, and not just for the sex either. Don’t get me wrong, the sex is fantastic, but there’s a whole universe filled with fantastic sex. I like you, Bones, and not just for your dick.”

“Wow, how romantic,” Bones drawled, “Ever since I was a child I’ve dreamed of someone telling me they like me, but not just for my dick.”

“We can’t all be Shakespeare,” Jim shrugged, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that he was waiting impatiently for Bones to tell him what he wanted. Jim would be fine with friends. Frankly he hadn’t even spent 10 nights with Bones over the course of their...whatever. He felt like he knew the other man because of the hours of conversation involved in those nights, but there was still a lot for them to figure out, if Bones wanted to figure it out. Bones wasn’t saying anything, though, he was just staring at him, hazel eyes narrow. The silence began to eat at Jim so eventually he cleared his throat and spoke again,

“Um, Starfleet regs require I make it clear that your interest or lack thereof in, uh, any of this won’t be used for or against you professionally. So…”   


“Dammit,” Bones said with something that sounded a bit like a half laugh, “And here I was hoping I could sleep my way up the chain of command.”

Jim was going to wait Bones out on this one, though, so he said nothing. Finally Bones sighed,

“Look, Jim, we don’t know each other super well but, I think maybe we oughta change that. Can I buy you dinner while we’re still on earth and then go from there?”

“Buy me dinner as in a date?”

“That is usually what that implies, yes.”

“I don’t have a ton of dating experience, not a lot of opportunities on a starship, ya know? But I’d like to see where it goes too. Although, God, dating my CMO is so typical.”   


“Is that a stereotype? Somehow I’ve never come across that one.”   


“I don’t know, but my former captain was married to his CMO.”

Bones snorted, a ugly little sound that Jim weirdly loved. “Let’s start with dinner.”

“Dinner sounds good,” Jim agreed then looked down at his PADD still sitting on the table and smiled, “Uh, we do actually have to get some work done during this meeting, though.”

“What a burden,” Bones drawled as he sank into the chair across from Jim with just about the worst posture Jim had ever seen. He was smiling, though, and Jim couldn’t help but smile back. This was going to be a good mission.


End file.
